Red Brick Walls
by DramaticStarlet
Summary: Mama, I'll protect you. PeetaKatniss.


red brick walls.

by katie.

small, slightly fluffy little plot bunny. i haven't read a lot of hg fanfic yet so i have no idea if anyone's written something like this yet but LOL I HOPE NOT. that would be awkward.

p.s. peeta mellark is my life lol js.

/

Her father owns the bakery in town.

She dreams about it often, because it's her favorite place to be in the whole world. The red brick walls, the sign that says _Mellark Confectionary _in her mother's best print, the smell of chocolate and fresh doughnuts - there is really nothing quite like her father's bakery. On this cold winter evening, Andia Mellark dreams about the three-tiered chocolate cake with yellow icing daisies her father promised to bake her for her birthday. Her dream self is just about to swipe a finger into the thick, white buttercream frosting of the cake when she's awoken by a harsh, broken cry for help.

_PEETA! _is the name that pierces her dream of soft chocolate cake and icing flowers. Andia opens her blue eyes groggily, quickly assessing the situation. _Someone is screaming. Mama is screaming. Where is Papa. Mama is screaming. _

This isn't new, really. Her mother has lots of nightmares. But usually her father (Peeta) will wake up, too. Andia knows this because sometimes when she can't sleep after hearing her mother's screams, she'll peek through the crack in her parents' doorway. And she'll stand there for a while and watch as her father strokes her mother's hair, murmuring soft words that Andia can't hear but imagines it's the same things he says to her when she's scared.

_It's alright, sweetheart. I'm right here. You're safe. Close your eyes, love. _It always makes Andia feel better to know that her father is always there when she or her mother needs him.

Tonight, though, her mother's screams don't subside. Andia's heart beats a little faster because _Papa isn't waking up._

She squeezes her eyes back shut and tries to remember all the times her father hasn't been home at through her six years of life. Once, he went to the Capitol overnight to receive a medal of honor - but he would have told her about that beforehand. Another time he got stuck in a blizzard at Haymitch's house - but it hasn't snowed in a week. And then there was a time when he had to stay late at the bakery to finish a wedding cake - that HAS to be it. Andia can't think of any other reason why her father wouldn't be at home.

It's in this moment that if her father can't be there for her mother, then Andia will have to take his place. She hates the sound of her mother's desperate cries, so she swings her legs over the side of her bed and slips her feet into her favorite yellow duck slippers. After checking her baby brother's crib in the room across the hall to make sure that he's still asleep (he could sleep through an avalance), Andia slips down the hallway to stand outside the entrance of her parents' room.

The sound of her mother still tossing and turning sends her right back into action.

"Mama?" Andia says after she climbs onto her father's side of the bed. His pillow smells like cologne and brown sugar. "Mama, I'm right here."

Her mother rolls over, her eyes blown wide in terror and her dusky brown hair in a tangled mess around her face. This is Andia's least favorite way to see her mother - her brave, cunning, intelligent mother scared by something as silly as a nightmare. Then again, her mother has never told her what her nightmares are about and Andia isn't sure that she ever wants to know.

"Mama, I'm here. I'll protect you," Andia whispers comfortingly, curling herself against her mother and littering her cheeks with kisses. She waits until her mother's shaking has stopped and her breathing has returned to normal to say, "I love you, Mama."

Her mother looks at her with that expression she gets when she's still scared but trying to hide it. "I love you too, dear."

Andia doesn't want to see her mother scared anymore so she sits up and smiles brightly. "Let's make hot cocoa for when Papa gets home. Hot cocoa ALWAYS makes me feel better."

Her mother finally gives her a real, genuine smile. "YOU always make me feel better," her mother says before enveloping Andia into a tight hug. Warmth spreads through Andia and makes her feel warm and fuzzy inside, like right after she's taken a hot bath or when the summer sun splays sunlight all over her.

"Can we still make cocoa though?" Andia says in a small voice when her mother finally releases her. She's not even tired anymore and a nice cup of hot chocolate would help her to fall asleep again - she tells her mother this matter-of-factly.

Her mother just laughs quietly and lets her lead the way into the kitchen.

By the time her father gets home, Andia is fast asleep in a bed of pillows and heavy quilts on the floor next to her mother. She doesn't notice him take the last few, rapidly cooling sips of her cocoa. She does, however, notice when he lays down next to them and envelops them in his arms.

Andia smiles, snuggling deeper into the blankets.

Her mother doesn't have anymore nightmares that night.

/

MY CREYS I JUST LOVE PEENISS SO MUCH IT'S NOT EVEN HEALTHY.

so yeah this is my first hg fanfic so don't be too mean because i really tried and also i now am craving hot cocoa hardcore.


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